News Updates - July 2, 2009

2009 Legislative training for Building Officials

Coming soon, a BCD online course covering relevant legislative
changes will be available. With the end of the 2009 legislative
session, the division has already begun developing a Building
Official 2009 Legislative Update course. Similar to 2007, the
online course will include summaries of new legislation and questions
relating to these summaries. The course will be offered later
this month and will satisfy BCD's requirements for BO continuing
education. Look for a link to the course on the BCD Web site soon.
If you need more information, please contact Sherri West at 503-373-7509
or at sherri.d.west@state.or.us.

ePermitting Basic is here

The ePermitting basic system started up on Monday, June 22, and
has been flying ever since. The new system had been tested by
several companies and jurisdictions before its debut. In a little
over a week 345 contractors have registered and over 590 permits
have been purchased. Looks like ePermitting's basic system is
a hit!

There are lots of new features to the ePermitting system and
we've talked about many of them in this newsletter. But one of
the features we have not mentioned is the new help desk. If you
are a customer just getting started with the new basic system,
you might have a few questions. That's where the help desk and
their "ticketing system" come in handy. The help desk
has been averaging about 10 calls a day. You can contact the ePermitting
help desk at 503-373-7396.

The questions most frequently asked of the help desk seem to
be data-entry related. Some contractors are not capitalizing the
letter in their BCD license and the system needs the letter to
be capitalized in order to accept the information. Another question
occurs when putting in the address where the work will be done.
The exact street number needs to be entered, but it is best not
to give too much detail to the rest of the address. For example,
adding NW, Court, or the zip code is not necessary. It actually
works better if just a couple letters of the street name are given.
Another frequently asked question has to do with the services
a jurisdiction lists as available online. Because jurisdictions
choose the services they accept online, if a service is not listed
as an option, then they do not provide it.

A more complete FAQ will be available on the ePermitting
Web site soon. This means both contractors and jurisdictions
are helping us provide a better product!

Local building department directory is here

Your handy Local Building Department Directory (LBDD) is now
available to help you locate the right building department to
ask your permitting questions to. This efficient new directory
is simple to use; you just enter the city, zip code, or select
the jurisdiction for the address, and the directory delivers a
page full of information for your specified location. It provides
you with building department phone numbers and addresses, as well
as staff contact information, any permit services available online
for the address, and much more. Try
it and see what you think!

The other wonderful thing about this new directory (formerly
the Directory of Responsibility) is that each building department
can maintain and enter any changes directly to their pages. This
means you will have access to the most current and up to date
information for each building department. If your jurisdiction
is having problems logging in to the LBDD or needs a user name
and password assigned, contact Lori Graham at 503-373-7755 or
lori.l.graham@state.or.us.
BCD is excited to provide you with this new feature. The directory
can be accessed from the BCD, Permits Protect, and ePermitting
Web sites.

Residential board approves mid-cycle code change

The Residential Structures Board approved a code amendment proposal
at its meeting on Wednesday,
July 1, 2009. The mid-cycle amendment is to the 2008 Oregon
Residential Specialty Code and will become effective October 1,
2009.

The code amendment proposal modifies the standard for suction
covers on swimming pool and spa drains. It is based on changes
proposed for the 2009 International Residential Code and adopts
the ANSI/APSP-7-06 standard. It will bring the code into compliance
with the federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act,
passed December 19, 2007, which was named after former Secretary
of State James Baker's granddaughter, Virginia Graeme Baker, who
died in June 2002, after she was trapped under water by the suction
from a spa drain. This matter was before the board in order to
consider BCD's recommendation that it go to a public rulemaking
hearing. At its meeting, the board agreed and forwarded the proposal
to a public hearing.

Plumbing requirements for installing dental amalgam separators

The division has received many questions from local building
departments regarding the permit, license, and enforcement issues
relating to a state law (Senate Bill 704, 2007) that took effect
January 1, 2008. The law requires dentists who work with materials
containing mercury to install a separator to remove these wastes
from the building drainage system.

Although the law has some specific plumbing requirements with
regard to the installation of the amalgam separator, it is not
part of the building code, and enforcement of these new requirements
is regulated by the Oregon Board of Dentistry. In some cases,
installation of a mercury separator may not constitute "plumbing,"
such as when the separator is a part of a new dental chair system.
However, because the separator may also be installed as part of
the medical gas or drainage system, plumbing permits and licensing
may be required.

Check
out the article on the plumbing page of our BCD Web site and
if you have any further questions regarding dental amalgam separators
and the applicable plumbing requirements, please contact Terry
Swisher, Chief Plumbing Inspector, at 503-373-7488 or terry.l.swisher@state.or.us.

Board of Boiler Rules summary of enforcement casesSummary report:
These cases were resolved by the division's enforcement section
without going to a contested case hearing. No action was required
by the Board of Boiler Rules.

Oregon State Plumbing Board summary of enforcement casesSummary report:
These cases were resolved by the division's enforcement section
without going to a contested case hearing. No action was required
by the Oregon State Plumbing Board.